take the fall

Slang definitions & phrases for take the fall

take the rap

verb phrase

To accept or suffer the punishment for something, esp for something one did not do: If she gets caught, I'll take the rap for her/ Make sure Brewster doesn't come unglued. He has to take the fall right along with Beck/ Marcus got to take the jump for it(1930+)

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.Cite This Source

Idioms and Phrases with take the fall

take the fall

Incur blame or censure for another's misdeeds, as in She's taken the fall for you in terms of any political damage, or A senior official took the fall for the failed intelligence operation. This expression originated in the 1920s as underworld slang. It began to be extended to less criminal kinds of blame in the second half of the 1900s. Also see take a fall, def. 2.